Joni Mitchell

1943

1967

The first recording of a Joni Mitchell song, country singer George Hamilton IV’s version of “Urge for Going,” enters Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart. Mitchell’s own version would later appear as the B side of the 1972 single “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio.”

1968

Joni Mitchell’s untitled debut album, produced by David Crosby and sometimes referred to as ‘Song to a Seagull,’ is released.

1968

1969

Joni Mitchell is slated to perform at Woodstock but is advised to honor a commitment to appear on Dick Cavett’s TV talk show. In lieu of appearing at that landmark event, she writes the anthemic tribute, “Woodstock.”

1970

David Geffen establishes Asylum Records. The first artist he signs is Jackson Browne. The label’s roster eventually will include Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, J.D. Souther and numerous other Los Angeles musicians.

1970

Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon, featuring “Big Yellow Taxi,” enters the Top 30 on the Billboard album chart.

1972

For the Roses, Joni Mitchell’s first album for David Geffen’s new Asylum label, is released. It reaches #11 and “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” is a minor hit single.

1973

Joni Mitchell hits #25 with “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio.”

1974

‘Court and Spark’, a tuneful, jazz-tinged album containing some of Joni Mitchell’s most accessible work, enters the album chart. It goes on to sell four million copies and launch two Top Forty singles

1974

‘Miles of Aisles’, a live double album documenting Joni Mitchell’s tour in the wake of ‘Court and Spark’s’ commercial breakthrough, is released. It is recorded during four-night stand in August 1974 and finds her backed by Tom Scott and the L.A. Express.

1975

Joni Mitchell hits #24 with “Big Yellow Taxi”.

1979

Joni Mitchell’s collaboration with jazz bass player and bandleader Charles Mingus, simply titled Mingus, is released a half-year after his death.

1982

Joni Mitchell’s first studio album of the Eighties, ‘Wild Things Run Fast’, is released. Only two more albums will be forthcoming in the decade

1991

‘Night Ride Home, Joni Mitchell’s 16th album, inaugurates the Nineties. It would be followed by ‘Turbulent Indigo’ (1994) and two complementary and simultaneously released compendiums, ‘Hits’ and ‘Misses’.

1995

Joni Mitchell is presented with the Century Award at the Billboard Music Awards.

1996

‘Turbulent Indigo’, Joni Mitchell’s 17th album, wins a Grammy for Best Pop Album at the 38th annual Grammy Awards.

1997

Joni Mitchell inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the twelfth annual induction dinner. Shawn Colvin is her presenter.

2000

Both Sides Now, an album of love songs by Joni Mitchell and other songwriters, is released. She is accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.